LibriVox recording of Letters of a Woman Homesteader, by Elinore Pruitt Stewart. Read by Lynne Carroll.

The writer of the following letters is a young woman who lost her husband in a railroad accident and went to Denver to seek support for herself and her two-year-old daughter, Jerrine. Turning her hand to the nearest work, she went out by the day as house-cleaner and laundress. Later, seeking to better herself, she accepted employment as a housekeeper for a well-to-do Scotch cattle-man, Mr. Stewart, who had taken up a quarter-section in Wyoming. The letters, written through several years to a former employer in Denver, tell the story of her new life in the new country. They are genuine letters, and are printed as written, except for occasional omissions and the alteration of some of the names. (Publishers’ Note, May 1914)

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This audio is part of the collection: The LibriVox Free Audiobook Collection
It also belongs to collections: Audio Books & Poetry; Community Audio

Artist/Composer: Elinore Pruitt Stewart
Date: 2010-11-28
Source: Librivox recording of a public-domain text
Keywords: Librivox; audiobook; biography; letters; homesteaders; frontier; women; widowhood; settlers

Creative Commons license: CC0 1.0 Universal

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Reviewer: KelleeS - - July 8, 2011
Subject: Great story!
I so enjoyed this book! I could almost feel the campfire, smell the pines, hear the creeks and see the stars - I felt like I was there!

I have such respect for this woman who felt blessed in spite of any hardships she experienced. She seemed to get so much joy out of life…

Great job by the reader – she really drew me in.

Reviewer: TriciaG - - December 19, 2010
Subject: A very enjoyable book and reader
This is a fun book with funny and touching anecdotes within the letters. The author can tell a story very well through her letters. Wyoming should use this as promotional material!

The reader did a great job. She has a slight southern accent (to my ears, anyway), which fit well, since the author was originally from the South. Very good reading, and a quality recording.

DISCLAIMER: The author is a Southern woman from the early 1900's. She therefore uses terms for certain minorities (acceptable in her time period) that are offensive today.

Reviewer: flambeau - - December 6, 2010
Subject: Very enjoyable
Very enjoyable book of real life letters by a woman homesteader in the American West, in the early years of the 1900's. The reader did a lovely job and reads very clearly.

In response to the comments of the reviewer below, the writer's maiden name was Elinore Pruitt - He first husband's last name was Rupert; her second husbands last name was Stewart.

In the letters, she sometimes signed herself as Elinore Rupert, Elinore Rupert Stewart, Elinore Stewart, and also Elinore Pruitt Stewart.

This was not a mistake on the reader's or the proof-listener's part, but how it was actually written.

Reviewer: vlands - - December 3, 2010
Subject: Interesting information
The details provided by these letters make listening worthwhile. The reader does a decent job, and I appreciated the time and energy she put in. The prooflistener, however, missed the many times that the reader said "Elinore Rupert...." instead of Elinore Pruitt.